Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Personal cinematic history.

The first movie I loved was Mary Poppins.
(The second movie I loved was The Sound of Music. I think we can see a theme here, a Julie Andrews related theme. O! Julie Andrews! what a wonderful set of pipes you had! What a range! And such impeccable diction!)

What Mary Poppins was about, firstly, was the children, the poor neglected children, who just wanted a nanny who did not

my first cinematic fixation.

smell of barley water

and who would

love them as a son or daughter,

and a few other sundry qualifications such as

no warts,

rosy cheeks,

witty

very sweet

fairly pretty.

And also, and for good measure,

play games, all sorts

sing songs

bring sweets

never cross

nor cruel

never feed them castor oil or gruel

(Jane and Michael Banks had mad flow and rhyming skillz.)

It goes without saying, of course, that they wanted no

scolding nor dominating.

I loved this song so much that I rehearsed it so I could sing it at parties. Even though I was never actually invited to sing it at a party. My performance may not have been as delightful as I imagined.

I could have watched that movie all day, every day, for a protracted period in the 1st to 2nd grade era of my life. I have no actual memory of seeing it in a theater, although I'm sure that I did. I do remember, however, watching it with avid attention on The Wonderful World of Disney. I am pretty sure that I also had Mary Poppins paper dolls, although I might be making that up, since I also remember with great vividness a cloisonné ring, white with a tiny pink rose, that I apparently had when I was, like, five, but my best friend stole it from me. Or maybe I dreamed it.

I am, however, pretty sure that I listened to the music from the movie every Saturday of my young life, because, starting fairly early each Saturday morning, my father always played a reel-to-reel tape with all sorts of music for our enjoyment while we did our chores. I believe it was Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music,The Singing Nun, and Camelot. Why The Singing Nun? "Dominique," that's why.

I also liked to let my voice and spirits soar with the Bird Woman of St. Paul's. Who didn't? If you ever go to St. Paul's, which I highly recommend--definitely go up to the Whispering Gallery--I defy you not to hear this song in some ancient chamber of your mind, where the old movies are playing on a continuous loop, and you are still trying to appeal to the perfect nanny to come to you, bringing sweets and carrying a carpet bag with all manner of mysteries inside.

6 comments:

What a happy post. Thank you. I think I've told you this before, but my Brit of choice was Hayley Mills. I spoke in a fake English accent throughout all of second grade, which is why no one wanted to play hopscotch with me. Who wants someone shouting "YOU STEPPED ON THE LINE" in a fake British accent at them?

When at Disneyland--more accessible, to me, than St.Paul's--the must-have photo op is me with Mary Poppins, fighting the urge to be cheeky. Anyway. Can't tell you how your post, and the prospect of the roll out of a cinematic HT autobio cheers me.

I do hope there will be a sequel in this series! I too loved this movie, but met it first from a read-along 45rpm with accompanying illustrated booklet which I played on my little orange & white portable record player over and over and over.